Monday, April 10, 2017

Series of earthquakes shake New Zealand late on Sunday

Two strong earthquakes struck at the bottom of the North
Island within about half-an-hour of each other last night.

More than 10 quakes which struck central New Zealand on Sunday night were Kaikoura aftershocks.
GeoNet
said two of the quakes were of "strong" intensity. A magnitude-4.8
quake struck south of Martinborough at 10.58pm, followed by a
magnitude-4.5 quake southwest of Wellington at 11.30pm.

SUPPLIED

A magnitude-4.8 quake struck south of Martinborough at 10.58pm on Sunday.

More than 2500 people reported feeling the magnitude-4.8 tremor,
while more than 6000 said they felt the magitude-4.5 shake near
Wellington.
GNS duty seismologist Caroline Little said the quakes were all part of the same event.
The 10 ranged from magnitude-1.6 up to 4.8 southeast of Martinborough, near Cape Palliser, in the space of a few hours.

GEONET

More than 2500 people reported feeling the magnitude-4.8
tremor near Martinborough (pictured) while more than 6000 said they felt
the magitude-4.5 shake near Wellington.

The tremors were in the aftershock region of last year's
7.8-magnitude earthquake, so they "definitely won't be the last
aftershock[s] we have from that, and definitely won't be the last one
that will wake us up", she said.
As well as the 10 quakes, three
"light" earthquakes were registered, with a 2.8-magnitude shake
centred northwest of Gisborne at 10.51pm, a 2.7-magnitude quake east of
Taupo at 10.59pm and a 3.4-magnitude quake southwest of Martinborough at
11.16pm.
While the shakes around Cape Palliser were further north than the
majority of the aftershocks, they still fell within the aftershock
region. It was "pretty standard" for an aftershock sequence, she said.

"Around the Wellington region, we're going to get earthquakes anyway.
Because of the Kaikoura quake, we're going to get a few more this year
than we would in other years."
The likelihood of a big quake in the Wellington region was still pretty low, Little said.
However, it was five times more likely than before the Kaikoura quake.
Shakes
like this were a good reminder to Wellingtonians, and the rest of the
country, to get prepared in case a big one does strike.